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Crisis posted:Actually that does seem to be their standard loan rate even for bigger loans, up to £2000. E.g. from the home improvements loan page: Yikes. I guess that 'owned by members' schtick is pretty meaningless if the members are of the FYGM mindset when it comes to deciding what to do with the profits. 
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Aug 18, 2022 13:24
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Not in the UK but my experience with credit unions is they are good but make sure basic poo poo like security is in place. Often times I've seen their online banking and security is really not good compared to the big banks. Also lol at credit unions not funding some rich rear end in a top hat's mortgage. I guarantee you if a rich rear end in a top hat went to them for a mortgage, they would give it to them.
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Aug 18, 2022 18:18
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Calico Heart posted:Hello everyone. I'd like to open a Stocks and Shares ISA as I've been told they're fairly sound investments. I'm a dual citizen (thanks dad) which means I have to open with Hargreaves Lansdown. I am a complete a total newbie to this - I grew up pretty poor and personal finance stuff just sends waves of anxiety throughout my body. When I become a customer with HL, do I need to have an idea of where to put my money right away? I want to put the £2500 I have to spare in a S&S ISA, but really have no idea where to start and find myself getting a bit confused and stressed when trying to google this and learn more. Any and all advice is greatly welcomed and very, very appreciated! I have a SIPP with HL but I'm pretty sure it will be the same. The stocks and shares ISA can invest in funds and have access to a big range. I just checked and they have Vanguard Lifestrategy funds which are designed for this kind of thing, a balance of stocks and bonds with a low cost. Not quite as low as US ETFs but low enough (0.22%). You have to choose which balance of stocks and bonds based on whether you want more or less risk. From the SIPP you don't have to decide what it's invested in immediately and you can change (buy/sell investments) when you like. But I'd just put it in Lifestrategy 80 and forget about it for a few decades. Also the HL app is very easy to use compared to for instance Interactive Brokers in the US.
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Aug 22, 2022 08:30
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Might be a stupid question but, anyone got any recommendations for what to do with savings whilst we teeter on the brink of a huge recession lol. I have a S&S isa and a non-ISA account as well with the same broker, all in a couple of L&G and Vanguard ETFs at the moment. They are not doing great, unsurprisingly given I invested the bulk in like December last year. I'd like to keep saving for a housing deposit but don't particular want to keep dropping stuff in ETFs if they are likely to tank even further soon. Then again maybe I am being an idiot trying to time things and should just drop the money in now and wait for the (supposedly) inevitable bounceback/resolution to the crisis/final collapse of society. Or maybe I should save in my 1.75% Tandem account lol.
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Aug 26, 2022 13:57
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If you want to buy within the next 5-10 years then I agree you shouldn't be putting that money in the market - there used to be the Help to Buy ISA which let you stuff £200 a month in cash at a decent interest rate but that scheme has now been replaced with the Lifetime ISA which is terrible for cash savings (the advertised 25% government top up is great if you are sure you won't get wrongfooted by the catches in the OP.) Until the banks/building societies start incentivising savers, the closest one to the old Help to Buy ISA (on a cursory google) is a First Direct Regular Saver at 3.5% - though the catch there is they want you to shift your current account and regularly deposit (what they assume is your wage packet) into that to get the 3.5% rate, and you can only withdraw your savings by nuking the whole account (when you are buying the property) - the other catch here is that the 3.5% is fixed, so won't go up as the Bank of England carries on raising the base rate https://www1.firstdirect.com/savings-and-investments/savings/regular-saver-account/ https://www.thetimes.co.uk/money-mentor/article/best-savings-accounts-in-2022/
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Aug 26, 2022 14:22
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El Grillo posted:Might be a stupid question but, anyone got any recommendations for what to do with savings whilst we teeter on the brink of a huge recession lol. Check out some of the sharia banks eg Gatehouse currently offering 3.15% 'profit' (they don't call it interest) on a 1 year fixed bond (you need £1000 minimum though). It's been jumping up every month from 1.4% in January to this now. If you want to lock it away longer, they're offering higher interest, but IMHO locking it away for longer when rates are climbing so fast would be a bit daft.
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Aug 26, 2022 14:23
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Goons, I'm looking to buy a flat for myself, having needed to rent a new place and coming within mere days of homelessness due to the rental market here being diabolically turbofucked (one guy said he'd received 160 applications for a room in the 24 hours it had been up  ), but I'm aware that the economy is having even more of a normal one than usual and likely will for some time, so assuming I'm looking to pin down a mortgage within the next four to six months or so, would the OP still be correct and I should be going for a fixed rate? A quick check on comparison sites says I could get ~3-4% initial rate right now.Also, is it worth looking at a mortgage broker for properties £100k or less, or would they be a bit redundant at that price point? Doctor_Fruitbat fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Sep 24, 2022 |
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Sep 24, 2022 20:12
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Always check with a broker, they can usually get deals not available on the retail market and if you find a better deal direct with a bank thats their problem not yours. Right now interest rates are only going up because of the totally unhinged economic plans of the new government (face off tory) - I re-fixed in June with a 5 year at 3.1% but the fact that interest rates are now better for 5 year than 2 year foretells that a reduction *may* be on the 3-5yr horizon in the case the UK economy goes super freefall
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Sep 24, 2022 20:24
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It's pretty much always worth going for a fixed rate, the question is more how long you should fix for. As Doccykins mentions the rates for 2 and 5 year fixes are a bit odd now - essentially the gamble you're making is that fixing for 2 years might allow you a better fix afterwards than a 5 year one would overall, but with how hosed up the plans are now the stability of a 5 year fix doesn't come with the usual downside of a higher rate. I've even seen some 10 year fixes that are basically the same rate as a 2 year fix. But really, check with a broker - they can get better deals and would have a slightly better sense of what lenders are thinking.
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Sep 27, 2022 13:01
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Hobo posted:It's pretty much always worth going for a fixed rate, the question is more how long you should fix for. As Doccykins mentions the rates for 2 and 5 year fixes are a bit odd now - essentially the gamble you're making is that fixing for 2 years might allow you a better fix afterwards than a 5 year one would overall, but with how hosed up the plans are now the stability of a 5 year fix doesn't come with the usual downside of a higher rate. I've even seen some 10 year fixes that are basically the same rate as a 2 year fix. The cheapest fixes I can find on my place at the moment are a 7 year, a 5 year and a 10 year. A 2 year fix is around 0.25% more expensive than the 7 year one. Wish I could fix right now but got some months to go 
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Sep 27, 2022 13:17
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For anyone doing the Premium Bonds: NS&I is increasing the premium bond prize rate from 1.4% to 2.2% in October 2022. Every little helps.
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Sep 27, 2022 13:49
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If you're taking out a fix, be attentive of the penalty to break. I had a fixed with Coventry which was 1.4% until next year. Closed and it will cost me 4 months interest. Worth it as I an account with 1.8% will have matched it by the end of this year and be ahead by next.
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Sep 27, 2022 16:34
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Sad Panda posted:If you're taking out a fix, be attentive of the penalty to break. I had a fixed with Coventry which was 1.4% until next year. Closed and it will cost me 4 months interest. Worth it as I an account with 1.8% will have matched it by the end of this year and be ahead by next. I think I'd be on the hook for 1% of the entire balance, which is a bit spicier than I'd like. I'll still do the maths, but jumping onto a long-ish fix at 3.5% now isn't nearly as attractive as your 1.8%
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Sep 27, 2022 17:36
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mfcrocker posted:I think I'd be on the hook for 1% of the entire balance, which is a bit spicier than I'd like. I'll still do the maths, but jumping onto a long-ish fix at 3.5% now isn't nearly as attractive as your 1.8% Just had a look on https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest/ and Yorkshire currently 2.5%. Given its speculated to go up more, that seems like the better option.
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Sep 27, 2022 17:52
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Sad Panda posted:Just had a look on https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest/ and Yorkshire currently 2.5%. Given its speculated to go up more, that seems like the better option. Oh, I’m on about mortgages, not savings
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Sep 27, 2022 18:03
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Just Another Lurker posted:For anyone doing the Premium Bonds: NS&I is increasing the premium bond prize rate from 1.4% to 2.2% in October 2022. it's important to be the dork in the room that points out a prize rate is not an interest rate and you could literally get nothing except absolute certainty of your savings' security. it's also important to be the dork in the room that points out a 1-year fixed interest bond savings account (i.e. you can't access your savings for a year) is topping out ~3.5% whereas the Marcus instant access saver is offering 1.8%. Reason I bring it up is because whilst the higher interest rate on the lock in is more attractive at face value, it's likely because they expect to be paying more than that in interest to stay competitive over the next 12 months. finally, and always, inflation is loving up your cash savings. stock market is on a discount, don't put in what you need in the next five years, etc etc etc.
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Sep 27, 2022 22:03
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I figured this might be the best place to ask. My sister is moving from the US to Europe for a year? maybe two? and will likely be working for a London based company, but may not necessarily live in London. From a banking perspective, what makes most sense for her? She's going to hold on to her US bank accounts, but will presumably want/need one for local banking in Europe. Does it make sense for her to open an account with a bank that has a strong presence in the US, like Santander or HSBC? A European company won't care what bank they deposit money in to, right?
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Sep 28, 2022 16:25
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Would it be smart at this point to move my pension into a fund that's invested wholly outside of the UK, or should I not bother trying to be clever and just ride this poo poo out? Right now I think it's in a global fund so probably relatively insulated from UK-specific shenanigans anyway, but I've not checked. And I'm not going to be retiring for a long time anyway, but it would be nice to not lose large sums of money if possible. Obviously the actual smart thing would have been to do it a month or so ago, I guess.
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Oct 12, 2022 08:12
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I don't know what's necessarily best to do in this situation, but my UK SIPP is 50:50 in international index and ex-uk index funds as I was trying to hedge against the £ loving up. That being said they are probably not significantly different as an international fund will only have a small % in UK companies.
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Oct 12, 2022 08:47
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If you’re in a proper global fund you’re only marginally exposed to the UK anyway, and most of that will be FTSE 100 companies which aren’t that exposed to the UK domestic economy. Plus it’s hardly a UK-specific slump, markets everywhere are well down. It’s a pension, best thing to do is just not look and keep contributing and you’ll be buying lots of relatively cheap shares now that will go up by lots over 25 years even if they go down in the next 2-5. Unless your referring to the LDI stuff in the news about pension funds at the moment - in which case that’s all related to defined benefit schemes, it has no bearing on your defined contribution pension.
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Oct 12, 2022 08:47
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Feeling fairly smug about my choice to go all-in on the FTSE Global All Cap. Not feeling so smug about only fixing my 1.54% mortgage for 2 years in May 2021…
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Oct 12, 2022 09:01
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Had a little look at my fund over lunch and threw half of it into a world (ex-UK) fund to see how they perform relative to each for a while just out of interest. Although yeah the best advice is probably: peanut- posted:It’s a pension, best thing to do is just not look and keep contributing and you’ll be buying lots of relatively cheap shares now that will go up by lots over 25 years even if they go down in the next 2-5.
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Oct 12, 2022 13:10
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As a general principle I tend to avoid being invested in the UK. My job is here, my house is here, my main currency is the pound. My emergency fund is in cash GBP. I feel I already have plenty of exposure to GB related risks that if it all goes to poo poo, I'd rather not have my pension and savings go up in the same bonfire.
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Oct 12, 2022 19:11
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Yeah, remember that you're talking about a decades-long investment here - this won't be the only stock market crash in its time.
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Oct 12, 2022 19:49
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Residency Evil posted:I figured this might be the best place to ask. Would something like Starling or Monzo be suitable? Right now I'd be most concerned about Forex volatility if I'm being paid in massively overvalued USD and spending in EUR.
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Oct 15, 2022 21:15
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Six months ago I opened a Vanguard account and I've been paying in a regular (small) amount each month since. Overall it's got a return of -4.75% over that time and has only had one good positive month. It's intended as a long-term investment for at least 10-15 years, and I've no intention of taking what's paid in so far back out, but, given the way everything is going right now, would I be better served putting the monthly amount into a savings account at a pittance of an interest rate, at least for a few months, before putting that into the Vanguard account as a lump sum?
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Nov 3, 2022 11:38
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Clarence posted:Six months ago I opened a Vanguard account and I've been paying in a regular (small) amount each month since. no. assuming you already have adequate cash savings for any emergencies and stuff. trying to time the market is a fool's game.
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Nov 3, 2022 12:25
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Clarence posted:Six months ago I opened a Vanguard account and I've been paying in a regular (small) amount each month since. The country is currently on fire, the idea is that over the long term it averages out to slightly less on fire E: also by avoiding putting it in now you're effectively saying you think it's going to get worse before it gets better, which could well be accurate but I don't think anyone here knows that for certain
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Nov 4, 2022 04:17
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You didn’t know how bad it was going to get when you invested. You still don’t know. Literally 99% of people on the planet are down YoY, -5% is actually pretty decent in comparison to many. Eitherway, don’t cry over spilled milk, what’s done is done and the only thing that matters is what you do now, which ideally is nothing except keep on investing. I don’t know if the market is going to keep going down, but I do know that investors have historically been rewarded for taking on risk.
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Nov 4, 2022 06:35
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Also this is what people mean when they say it's on sale. If you're long term investing, and you believe that eventually the economy will sort itself out, then anything you contribute now while it's down is basically buying shares at cut rate discount prices as they will eventually recover and you got 'em cheap.
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Nov 4, 2022 10:02
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Understood. All these things are cyclical and the historical trend is generally upwards over the long term. "Buy the dip" but related to the whole market not a single stock. I wasn't talking about taking out what had already been put in, but delaying putting any more in is a gamble that things won't improve in the very short term (I'm talking the next 2-3 months). I put in monthly, and the next one is due at the beginning of December, by which time the budget will have happened and we'll see where we are then! I'm generally quite risk averse, by the way.
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Nov 4, 2022 11:15
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I invested some inheritance money in a Vanguard account literally a week before Russia invaded Ukraine. Monitoring the performance since then has been a wild ride - it reached its nadir during Truss's tenure, down to about -11%, but since The Dish took over its now at the lofty heights of about -7.5%!
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Nov 4, 2022 11:26
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I'm in the same boat, started putting savings into the 80% equity Lifestrategy and into an L&G global tech index tracker last year. Am down a fair ways maybe 10%. My assumption is that we're going to see further drop now that the interest rate hikes have been announced and everyone's basically accepted that we're heading for/in a recession that will go through a good portion of next year.
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Nov 4, 2022 13:01
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Clarence posted:Understood. All these things are cyclical and the historical trend is generally upwards over the long term. Understand you are still trying to time the market. If your strategy is anything but “do what I always do” then you are trying to time the market. If going through a bear market like this is proving too painful, then you should really be considering where you were taking on too much risk to begin with, and should switch to a strategy you can stick with until you can reach your investment horizon.
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Nov 4, 2022 17:12
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Clarence posted:Understood. All these things are cyclical and the historical trend is generally upwards over the long term. You're still buying during a sale. Stop trying to rationalise bad decisions. This is not shitcoin speculation.
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Nov 4, 2022 22:12
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Yeah, when you break it down you're basically going. I'm risk averse. Market is down. I think it's going to stay down. So I'm not going to contribute yet. Which is clearly timing the market but fundamentally your saying you think you know better than the entire rest of the market, who can also see all the information you can, and so is actually more risky in its own way than just doing a X in every month kind of strategy.
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Nov 4, 2022 23:42
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So the logic is something like - The market will go back up at some point, and when it does it's important to have funds in the market as early in that recovery as possible to maximise the gains. Even if it means taking a slight loss in the short term, the overall gain will probably be higher over the long term than waiting a bit and trying to predict when the start of the recovery will be (as timing the market correctly is just about impossible to do). How does that sound?
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Nov 5, 2022 08:59
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That's a fair summary. Unless you know something that 'the market' doesn't (highly unlikely) then trying to time anything is adding risk. You want money in the market for as long as possible for it to maximise growth and minimise risk. Smarter Investing by Tim Hale is a good book at going into more detail about this and the why you should just invest in the market (cheapest index funds) and then leave it alone. Its fairly old but the core idea is still strong. I'm sure a local library would have a copy.
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Nov 5, 2022 09:16
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I've got a few small lumps of cash in isas or funds, but would a better approach now just to be funnel absolutely as much as I can into early mortgage repayments? We're on a low fixed rate for the next two years, so it seems like just paying off as much extra as I can until we remortgage at an inevitably higher rate is the most sensible thing to do. Obviously factoring in / avoiding any overpayment costs or whatever.
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Nov 5, 2022 10:41
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The Perfect Element posted:I've got a few small lumps of cash in isas or funds, but would a better approach now just to be funnel absolutely as much as I can into early mortgage repayments? We're on a low fixed rate for the next two years, so it seems like just paying off as much extra as I can until we remortgage at an inevitably higher rate is the most sensible thing to do. Obviously factoring in / avoiding any overpayment costs or whatever. If you're on a low fixed rate then you're actually better off finding a saving account that pays you a rate higher than the mortgage, keeping it there, and then using the sum to pay down the mortgage once you need to remortgage. Normally this sort of rate disparity wouldn't come up, but there's people with a 1% mortgage with 5% fixed term saving accounts on the market, so have at it. I wouldn't do this by moving money out of existing investment funds though, and this assumes you're looking at at least a 10+ year horizon - if you don't need the money for that long, then index funds are still probably the best bet. I'm assuming like most people you have a mortgage that has a 2 or 5 year fix.
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Nov 5, 2022 11:07
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